


below three

by hirokiyuu



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 11:33:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13030179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hirokiyuu/pseuds/hirokiyuu
Summary: Kaoru, Kanata, and a beach.[Written for the Enstars Secret Santa on twitter for twitter user @anchinomy! Happy Holidays!]





	below three

**Author's Note:**

> as always, shout out to alm for beta-ing!

He found himself at the beach twenty-three minutes before midnight. Snow was coming down in slow tiny flecks. One slipped past Kaoru’s scarf, landed on his neck, and he shivered full-body. The ocean before him looked like an abyss.

Inhale, exhale. He was tired of being alone.

“‘Kaoru’?”

He looked back, and was not particularly surprised to see Kanata. Kanata, in turn, did not seem particularly surprised to see him. There was a beach closer to his house, but he’d chosen this one. A rock dug into the sole of his shoe, and he shifted his weight. “Hey,” he said. Kanata nodded back.

Neither of them were smiling. Kanata’s footsteps crunched against the rocky sand as he walked over. The sound of the water against the rocky sand was offset by Kanata’s breathing. 

Gradually Kaoru became aware that Kanata was shivering. He looked over and saw that Kanata’s hands were bare. “Jeez,” he said, softly enough that it didn’t break the blanket of quiet that had settled over them. “Why aren’t you wearing gloves?”

Kanata looked back. His smile was flat in ways it hadn’t been in the last ten months, and his eyes made him seem like some strange dead thing. “I ‘forgot,’” he said, waving one hand slowly in the air. “It’s not ‘important.’”

“No, it is,” Kaoru said. He moved before he could think about it, reaching up to catch Kanata’s hand in his own. Even through his glove he could feel how cold it was. Kanata’s lips parted when they touched, and that was when Kaoru remembered to be embarrassed.

For a moment he wavered. Kanata’s pink lips closed. Kaoru swallowed, and then reached down to take Kanata’s other hand too. “Until you warm up,” he said, voice wavering. He was squeezing Kanata’s hands so tightly he could feel the press of Kanata’s knuckles in his grip.

Kanata closed his eyes, just for a second. When they opened, he smiled -- but this time his smile was crooked, and it scrunched up his eyes in ways that let the light of the distant streetlights catch on them. “Thank you, ‘Kaoru,’” he said, low and a little shaky.

Kaoru didn’t know how to look at him, like this. “Yeah,” he said. His eyes fell down to their joined hands. Kanata’s skin was painfully red. Staring at it made something heavy catch in Kaoru’s throat.

He looked back up, but Kanata had once more closed his eyes. His head was tilted a little down. Kaoru hadn’t even noticed the angry edge of his breathing earlier until it had vanished.

He could feel each and every one of Kanata’s cold fingers under his. If he rubbed his thumb over Kanata’s knuckles it was only to help him warm up. The motion set a rhythm that matched the water. Like this he closed his eyes and leaned forward to press his forehead to Kanata’s.

They stood in the darkness together, two lonely boys out in the cold. Finally, Kaoru thought, breathing did not ache.

**Author's Note:**

> catch ya girl on twit @yuunamakis!


End file.
